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Alice in Chains (album)

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Alice in Chains
Studio album by
Alice in Chains
ReleasedNovember 7, 1995 (1995-11-07)[1]
RecordedApril–August 1995
StudioBad Animals, Seattle, Washington
Genre
Length64:47
LabelColumbia
Producer
Alice in Chains chronology
Jar of Flies
(1994) 		Alice in Chains
(1995) 		Unplugged
(1996)
Singles from Alice in Chains
  1. "Grind"
    Released: October 6, 1995
  2. "Heaven Beside You"
    Released: January 1996
  3. "Again"
    Released: February 1996

Alice in Chains (occasionally informally referred to as the Dog Album or Tripod[5]) is the third studio album by American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on November 7, 1995, by Columbia Records, and was the follow-up to the highly successful Dirt (1992). This is the band's first full-length studio album to feature bassist Mike Inez, their last studio album to feature original lead vocalist Layne Staley, and their final studio album to be released through Columbia.

For a year and a half, Alice in Chains had not played any live shows, citing Staley's health issues. In the meantime, Staley joined the supergroup Mad Season recorded the album Above (1995), leaving the future of Alice in Chains in question. In addition, Staley's growing heroin addiction led to growing rumors of his death. Shortly after the release of Above, Alice in Chains set out to create their third album, with the intention of putting an end to the gossip surrounding the band. Recorded at Seattle's Bad Animals Studio, the album's songs focus on heavy emotional content and subject matter such as drug addiction, depression, religion, broken relationships, and the internal tensions within the band fueled by Staley's substance abuse. The album's music relies less on metallic riffs and more on melody and texturally varied arrangements, integrating some of the more delicate acoustic moods of their EPs.[6]

Although it was released in the twilight of the grunge era, Alice in Chains debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first week sales of 189,000 copies,[7] and stayed on the chart for 46 weeks.[8] The tracks "Grind", "Heaven Beside You" and "Again" were released as singles. "Grind" and "Again" were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The album was certified double platinum by the RIAA and has sold over three million copies worldwide.[9] The album was the band's last for almost 14 years; Staley died from a drug overdose in 2002, and the band emerged with Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009 with new vocalist William DuVall.

Background

[edit]

After the release of Jar of Flies, vocalist Layne Staley entered rehab for heroin addiction, and drummer Sean Kinney struggled with alcoholism.[10] The band had been scheduled join the Shit Hits the Sheds Tour during mid-1994 with Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, Danzig and Fight, including a stop at Woodstock '94, but while in rehearsal for the tour, Staley arrived to a practice session high.[10] Kinney refused to perform with Staley in his condition, and the band eventually decided to cancel all their scheduled dates one day before the start of the tour.[10][11] Alice in Chains' manager Susan Silver was forced to release an official statement that all the group's live appearances for the forseeable future had been cancelled due to health issues among the bandmembers.[12] They were replaced by Candlebox on the tour.[13] After the statement was released, the musicians stopped communicating with the press.[3] Numerous rumors sprang from the cancellation, including that the band had broken up and that Staley had died from AIDS.[10] Members of Metallica mocked Staley on the tour. The band would imitate the first verse of "Man in the Box", and frontman James Hetfield replaced the lyrics with "I can't tour", while his bandmates would pretend to give themselves injections.[12] According to Kinney, "Nobody was being honest with each other back then. [...] If we had kept going, there was a good chance we would have self-destructed on the road, and we definitely didn’t want that to happen in public."[10]

During this period of inactivity, each of Alice in Chains' members took part in side projects. Bassist Mike Inez appeared on Slash's solo album It's Five O'Clock Somewhere. Kinney and the band's guitarist Jerry Cantrell each contributed songs to the Willie Nelson tribute album Twisted Willie; it was Cantrell's first experience working on material outside of Alice in Chains.[14] Cantrell then decided to work on material originally intended for a solo album,[10] with the working title Jerry's Kids.[5] Staley's direction, however, cast doubts over the future of the band when he joined what would become the "grunge supergroup" Mad Season, a band founded by solo artist John Baker Saunders and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready. The brainchild of McCready, who met Saunders at a Hazelden rehab clinic, the band was intended be a project which united musicians recovering from addictions. After recruiting Screaming Trees' Barrett Martin, the three invited Staley to be their vocalist.[15] After an October gig and several jam sessions under the name Gacy Bunch, the musicians changed their name to Mad Season and went to the studio, where they recorded Above.[16] Mad Season's performances at local venues in Seattle, which included some Alice in Chains songs, appeared to contradict prior reports made about Staley's health, and fueled rumors that he had left Alice in Chains.[17] These reports irked Cantrell,[10] and he halted work on his solo album in favor of attempting to revive Alice in Chains.[17]

Production

[edit]

Early recording and label issues

[edit]

When Jerry Cantrell first began thinking about releasing a solo album in 1994, he tried jamming with several drummers, among them Josh Snyder of Tad and Norman Scott of Gruntruck.[14] Cantrell and Scott recorded demos of new songs at Cantrell's in-home studio; Cantrell's guitar tech, Darrell Peters, was at the 16-track mixing console. The two musicians improvised on guitar and drums, after which Cantrell added bass and recorded guitar overdubs. A total of three songs were written;[18] two of the songs, "Grind" and "Again", would appear on the upcoming Alice in Chains album.[3] After Cantrell's home sessions, he reunited with Inez and headed to Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington, bringing along Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson alongside producer Toby Wright. The strategy behind these moves was that Kinney and Staley, who were disillusioned with Alice in Chains, would find out about the sessions and change their minds. Wright recalled that Cantrell was prepared for Kinney and Staley to turn the offer down, at which point he would pivot back to using the material for a solo album, despite his reluctance to do so.[5]

The recording sessions at Bear Creek were short and unproductive; the group spent $10,000 for a week's worth of time in the studio, but were unable to record anything other than the croaking of frogs in a nearby pond, used for the album's eventual eleventh track "Frogs". However, the reunion plan was successful; Kinney and Staley agreed to participate in the creation of a new Alice in Chains album.[5] By January 1995, Kinney had rejoined Cantrell and Inez to work on new material; in May, Staley was invited back to join the band in the recording studio.[10] Staley told Rolling Stone that the group ultimately came back together because during the band's split toward side projects, they "felt like we were betraying each other."[10] While this was happening, Sony Music — the owners of the band's label, Columbia Records — seriously considered replacing Staley. Columbia also had Mad Season under contract; Sony weighed the merits of Staley's condition and whether it would be better for Staley to focus on working with Mad Season. When it became known that McCready was returning to Pearl Jam, the possibility of replacing his role in Mad Season and preserving the project was also considered. However, despite the prospective profits in keeping both bands active, Sony executives ultimately decided it was not worth the risk and let Staley focus on Alice in Chains.[19]

Following the sessions at Bear Creek, Wright was brought back as producer for what would become the new Alice in Chains album. The band's A&R manager, Nick Terzo, who had once offered Wright a job with Alice in Chains as a sound engineer, was not pleased with the musicians' decision. Terzo considered Wright more of a technician than a producer, and also believed that a producer was obliged to find a compromise between the band and the label. Wright fully supported the band's creative independence, which led to his selection for the production job.[5] The band ignored Terzo and stated that they would only report directly to the heads of Sony Music, Don Ienner and Michele Anthony.[20] Furthermore, the band barred Silver from entering the studio. Wright served as the only intermediary between the band and the management, and it was through him she learned of progress on the album. Although Wright emphasized that the idea of distancing from management belonged to the musicians,[20] he did not oppose because he wanted the band to leave all their problems out of the studio to focus on the music.[21] Despite the commercial success of the group's previous works, Cantrell considered making music that would make the band's fans happy to be the main goal, with Staley adding the band also wanted to create something the band themselves would also enjoy.[21] Ultimately, the band was given full creative control, without a specific deadline or budget. However, when Toby Wright met Ienner in New York before the studio session began, Ienner was skeptical about the project and was sure that Wright would not be successful or productive. Wright recalled "sitting in Donnie Ienner’s office in New York before we started the record and him telling me, ‘Good luck,' because he didn't think I’d be able to get a record out of them."[22]

Creative process

[edit]
Vocalist Layne Staley's heroin addiction intensified during the making of Alice in Chains.

Work on Alice in Chains began at Bad Animals Studio about a month after the March 1995 release of Mad Season's Above. The band chose Bad Animals not only because of its proximity to where Staley lived, but also the greater amount of space for recording over other options.[21] When work began, the musicians did not have any finished songs, though Cantrell had several ideas to work with from the earlier demo sessions.[10] The band would then give the demo tapes to Staley so he could write lyrics.[10] In the absence of completed material, the band decided to simply jam together until finding something that would work instead of spending time on pre-production, as they had done on Jar of Flies.[21] Most often, jams began with Cantrell and Kinney, as the two had the greatest musical chemistry developed between them.[3] Instrumental parts were recorded during live sessions with the whole band; first, the structure of the song was outlined, and then – after 15-20 performances, memorizing their parts – the musicians recorded the best takes.[21] Wright largely relied on his own intuition when deciding when a take was good enough; some were worth leaving the first take, while others took many attempts, sometimes to the point of postponing the recording until the next day. Even then, a song could undergo significant changes: new sections could be added or old ones removed. This usually happened when fine-tuning vocal harmonies in the recordings. Staley would write lyrics to those finished recordings that he liked, and skipped the others.[21]

For the convenience of the musicians, Wright established a virtually round-the-clock work schedule. He accommodated the band members whenever the group was comfortable doing so in order to maximize creative efforts, as opposed to forcing a 12-hour standard work day.[21] Staley's addiction often led him to be late or absent for recording and rehearsal sessions,[23] so Wright's assistant Sam Hofstedt was given a pager to notify him when Staley was available to work, regardless of time of day. On one occasion, Wright summoned Hofstedt to the studio at 1:00 a.m. after Staley had arrived.[22] If Staley had previously tried to hide his heroin use from those around him, it became obvious during the recording of the album. Hofstedt recalled, "It seemed apparent to me he was using, because when you go to lock yourself in the bathroom for a while, it’s not because you really like the bathroom."[24]

Bad Animals was equipped with the latest equipment, including a Solid State Logic G-Series mixing console. The recording process used 48 channels, so Wright had to plan their distribution carefully, reserving space for instruments before any other work on a song began. Sometimes, in order to save money, it was necessary to use the same track for several instruments, such as an acoustic guitar and a guitar solo; Inez called these "George Martin effects". The mixing was carried out with little participation of the band, who held full faith in Wright and only approved the final result.[21] In addition to songs, almost everything else that happened in the studio was recorded, including conversations between the musicians while working. This allowed them to experiment with and take note of various combinations of guitars, amplifiers and settings, and later choose the best result.[25] Hofstedt estimated that over 70 rolls of magnetic tape were used with this approach, remarking years later that the budget for the tape cost roughly an entire modern album production budget.[22]

Instruments

[edit]

Wright's first focus was on the drums. As with Jar of Flies, the drum kit was surrounded by a wide array of microphones: a Sennheiser MD 421 and AKG D-12 for the bass drum, AKG 414s above the kit, D-12s on the toms, and a ACG C451, Shure SM57, and Sennheiser MD 441 for the snare. Wright admitted that he considered this configuration optimal and used it on most of his recordings, not just with Alice in Chains. Sean Kinney made a point of not using a metronome during the recordings, which made the songs more "living and breathing"; the tempo could fluctuate slightly but noticeably in different parts of the songs, following changes in dynamics.[21] Kinney wrote all the drum parts except for "Again", which was written by Scott in the demo sessions with Cantrell. Cantrell asked Kinney to replicate Scott's part, which forced Kinney to change his approach.[18]

Most of Cantrell's guitar recordings used three tracks: left and right for rhythm guitar, and one in the center for the lead part. By contrast, their previous studio album Dirt (1992) typically used six to eight guitar tracks, but Cantrell deliberately reduced their number to achieve a more natural sound.[14] He initially played the lead part on his main G&L guitar using a Bogner Fish amplifier, then followed by playing it back on another guitar with a different amplifier, where additional effects and nuances could be added.[3][14] The recording also used a Marshall amplifier, a 25-watt Celestion speaker system, and a Peavey preamplifier. Aside from the G&L, the guitar Cantrell most often used was a 1952 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop. The guitarist had been renting the instrument from a local shop for several years to record previous albums, until he finally managed to convince the owner to sell it. He also managed to buy an early 1960s Fender Stratocaster, which was also used on numerous occasions during the recordings.[14][25] Nancy Wilson also lent Cantrell a Les Paul Junior[21] and a twelve-string acoustic during the album's recording.[14] Wilson's bandmate in Heart, Howard Leese, loaned Cantrell a set of guitar pedals. His favorite among them was the Dunlop Cry Baby wah-wah,[14] but he also made use of another Dunlop pedal, the Rotovibe (at the end of "Frogs"),[3] a Maestro Phaser, and a Sustainiac sustainer (on the chorus of "God Am").[14]

Although most of the instruments were re-recorded at Bad Animals, some parts were taken from the demos. For example, Wright insisted on using the very first take of the guitar solo for "Grind" – dating back to Cantrell's home studio sessions. Cantrell objected, long considering it unfinished and not ready. He tried to re-record it, but eventually gave in to Wright's persuasion, and the solo was added to the final mix directly from Cantrell's ADAT tape recorder.[3][14] Also remaining unchanged was the drum part for "Over Now", taken from a demo version of the song recorded at London Bridge Studios; the song's origins dated back well before the creation of Alice in Chains.[14]

Vocals

[edit]

The part that took the longest to record was Staley's vocals. This was partly due to the fact that lyrics were written after the band had already entered the studio. Staley also wanted to experiment with different performance styles and tried out several different polyphonic arrangements before committing to final recordings. He even learned to use the recording equipment himself, preferring to be alone in the control room and perform songs over a pre-produced instrumental accompaniment using a handheld microphone. Only after Staley had decided on his approach would he allow the studio staff to enter the room and begin tracking his vocals.[22] His parts were usually recorded in one or two takes. The microphone most often used for recording vocals was a Soundelux U95, which was slightly modified by Toby Wright.[21] A notable exception was Staley's distorted voice on "Grind," which used a 1932 Turner Crystal microphone that Wright bought at a pawn shop for ten dollars.[24]

The signature vocal harmonies that had become a feature of Alice in Chains' previous work were present in more abundance throughout the songs. As before, the vocalists often were not present during the tracking of each other's parts and performed their parts separately, only listening to the finished result. Toby Wright compared Staley and Cantrell to the Lennon-McCartney duo and admitted that although he often criticized Alice in Chains' live performances, when it came to lyrics and melodies, he had nothing to complain about.[21]

Because of Staley's drug use, no one knew for sure when and in what condition Staley would appear in the studio next. The question of stopping work on the album was raised numerous times, but Wright held on, sometimes organizing breaks of several days so that all of the participants in the project could rest and get emotional release from the situation.[26] When it became apparent that the vocal recording was slowing the process, Ienner and Anthony decided to intervene. They called Staley one morning, congratulated him on the RIAA gold certification of Mad Season's Above, and issued him an ultimatum: finish the recording in the next nine days.[24] Wright was issued his own ultimatum: if Staley was not present at the studio each of those days, Columbia would halt production of the album. Though he responded emotionally when Wright gave him the news, Staley complied,[26] and the album was finished in August 1995.[10]

Completion of recording

[edit]

During their four-month period at Bad Animals from April to August 1995, the band wrote over 25 songs.[25] Twelve songs were selected for the final tracklist, with a total duration of 65 minutes. Several instrumental compositions did not make the cut; these recordings were sent to Columbia, and Wright believes may still be in the label's possession, unused in Cantrell's future solo projects.[27] When the recording was completed, Wright was pleased with the result. The producer particularly singled out the songs "Shame In You", "Heaven Beside You", "Grind", and "God Am", the latter of which he recommended to be released as a single. He believed that the band had released a landmark album that would not disappoint listeners.[21] Cantrell said of the experience, "It was often depressing, and getting it done felt like pulling hair out, but it was the fucking coolest thing, and I'm glad to have gone through it. I will cherish the memory forever," while Staley added, "I'll cherish it forever, too, just because this one I can remember doing."[10]

Music and lyrics

[edit]

Stylistically, the band integrated the sounds of both Dirt and Jar of Flies on Alice in Chains, offering both heavy compositions played in lowered guitar tunings as well as acoustic approaches combining melodic harmonies with dissonant guitar riffs.[28] This wide range of styles is displayed by the "super heavy" "Grind" and "Head Creeps" to the more melodic "Over Now".[28] The dark and depressive nature of the music also remained unchanged. Jerry Cantrell admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone around the release of the album that "Our music's kind of about taking something ugly and making it beautiful."[10] Despite the genre-blending, the band primarily stuck to their heavy metal roots, mixing metal with blues, rock and roll, and even punk rock.[3]

While heavy guitar sounds continued to be a hallmark of the band's sound on Alice in Chains,[29] The Los Angeles Times noted that the record's calmer songs and ballads, such as "Heaven Beside You", "Shame in You", "Over Now", and "Frogs" combined the band's signature sound with the Southern rock of stylings of Cream, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and the Allman Brothers Band.[30] Rolling Stone suggested this "hazier, more otherworldly aesthetic" may have been the result of "sleepless nights and controlled substances".[31]

With the exception of "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", and "Over Now", the lyrics are written entirely by Staley. Staley said, "I just wrote down whatever was on my mind...so a lot of the lyrics are really loose. If you asked me to sing the lyrics to probably any one of them right now, I couldn't do it. I'm not sure what they are because they're still that fresh."[10] Staley added, "For a long time I let problems and sour relationships rule over me instead of letting the water roll off my back...I thought it was cool that I could write such dark, depressing music. But then instead of being therapeutic, it was starting to drag on and keep hurting. This time I just felt, 'Fuck it. I can write good music, and if I feel easy and I feel like laughing, I can laugh.' There's no huge, deep message in any of the songs. It was just what was going on in my head right then. We had good times, and we had bad times. We recorded a few months of being human."[10]

"Sludge Factory" was written about a call Staley and Wright received, while at the studio, from Columbia executives Ienner and Anthony. The two told Staley and Wright they had nine days to finish the record, because they had already taken a lot of studio time.[32]

Of the album's four singles, "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", "Again" and "Over Now", three feature Cantrell on lead vocals, with the exception being "Again". Cantrell also wrote the lyrics for the songs for which he sang lead vocals. Regarding "Grind", Cantrell said it was written "pretty much at the height of publicity about canceled tours, heroin, amputations, everything, thus it was another 'FUCK YOU for saying something about my life' song."[33][10] "Heaven Beside You" was written by Cantrell after the end of a seven year relationship with his girlfriend.[10] On the liner notes of Alice in Chains' Music Bank box set, Cantrell described the song as "Another attempt to reconcile the fact that my life and paths are tearing me apart from the person I love. All the things I write about her are a way for me to maybe speak to her, express things I could never express."[33] Commenting on "Over Now", Cantrell said of the song: "A lot of deep shit in there, a big epic number. Plus you can get away with a hugely long tune near the end of a record."[33] An acoustic version of "Over Now" was released as a single in 1996 as part of the band's MTV Unplugged album.

Reflecting on the album in a 2018 interview to Noisey, Cantrell said:

There's a sadness to that record—it's the sound of a band falling apart. It was our last studio record [to that point]. It's a beautiful record, but it's sad, too. It's a little more exploratory, a little bit more meandering. It's not as crafted as the rest of our records were.[34]

Packaging and title

[edit]

The album is also known informally as "Tripod" or "Three-Legged Dog Album" due to a three-legged dog on the front cover[35] and Frank Lentini on the back.[36] The image of the dog on the cover was inspired by a three-legged dog named Tripod that used to terrorize drummer Sean Kinney and chase him around during his paper-work duty when he was a kid.[35] Kinney also designed the artwork for the album.[36][35]

Rocky Schenck photographed a three-legged dog for the album cover at a playground near downtown Los Angeles on August 23, 1995.[32] Schenck did a casting for three-legged dogs for the shoot,[32] but the band ended up choosing a fax with the image of a three-legged dog as the cover art because they thought it looked grittier and Staley and Cantrell liked it better.[35] Cantrell has stated that Kinney was "pissed" about that because they spent money for the photoshoot and did not use it for the album cover.[35] A different three-legged dog named Sunshine was used for the "Grind" music video.[35] The photo of the dog shot by Schenck at the playground was finally used years later on the 1999 box set Music Bank.[32] Contrary to rumor, none of the dogs used for the photoshoot, the album cover or the music video belonged to Jerry Cantrell. Cantrell has said in interviews that he did not know the owner of the dog.[35]

The CD was initially available in three versions: one with a transparent purple jewel case with a translucent yellow-green spine, one with the color scheme reversed and a predominantly monochrome version. The purple jewel case is currently out of print and the yellow-green edition is now a rarity. On the predominantly monochrome cover, the dog has yellow eyes. The cassette edition features a transparent purple cassette or transparent yellow-green case. It was also released on double vinyl with a purple label on the A-side and a yellow-green label on the B-side of both discs. Disc 1 featured tracks 1–6, disc 2 featured tracks 7–12, and both discs had 3 tracks per side.

In Japan, the CD cover is replaced with a blank, white cover with the dark blue text "Alice In Chains" appearing inside of a dark blue border in the bottom-right corner. The image of Frank Lentini was also removed, showing a mostly white back cover. The CD was orange.[37]

On July 17, 2019, Schenck revealed on his Instagram account an alternative album cover featuring a three-legged dog and kids playing at a playground.[38]

The Nona Tapes

[edit]

To help promote the album, Columbia asked the band to do an EPK (Electronic Press Kit), a common marketing tool in the '90s in which they should talk about themselves, but they did not want to do that. The band took the money from the label and made the mockumentary The Nona Tapes instead.[39] Directed by Rocky Schenck, it features Jerry Cantrell disguised as a female journalist, Nona Weisbaum, interviewing his bandmates playing fictionalized versions of themselves during a car ride in Seattle. The music video for "Grind" is also featured at the end.[40] Columbia did not like The Nona Tapes at first and told the band they had wasted their money doing it. However, it became a cult hit and Columbia decided to sell it, but the band was against it. The video was eventually released on VHS in December 1995.[39] In 2006, The Nona Tapes was released on DVD and came as a bonus with the compilation The Essential Alice in Chains.[41]

Release and reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Entertainment WeeklyC link
NME5/10[43]
People(favorable)[45]
Q[42]
Rolling Stone[31]
Select[44]

Although not as successful as Dirt, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 46 weeks.[8] It has since been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[46] The band opted not to tour in support of Alice in Chains, adding to the rumors of Staley's drug abuse.[11][47] When asked about the frustration of not touring to support the record, Cantrell provided some insight into how Staley's addictions led to repercussive tensions within the band: "Very frustrating, but we stuck it out. We rode the good times together, and we stuck together through the hard times. We never stabbed each other in the back and spilled our guts and do that kind of bullshit that you see happen a lot."[48]

It was noted for being a break away from the externally applied grunge label affixed to the group.[49][31] Rolling Stone described the album as a "musical rebirth",[31] and The New York Times remarked that in contrast to the raw distortions associated with grunge, Alice in Chains' sound was "cleanly delineated and meticulously layered."[49] Jon Wiederhorn of Rolling Stone called the album "liberating and enlightening", noting that the songs "achieve a startling, staggering and palpable impact."[31] In reviewing Alice in Chains's discography, Bill Adams of Ground Control Magazine wrote that, "If indeed Jar of Flies turned out to be the gateway that got so many more people hooked on Alice in Chains, it can only be said that the band's self-titled album implies withdrawals or a sense of significant unease or discomfort. The signs that something is just not right appear everywhere both on and in Alice in Chains; the front cover features a photo of a three-legged dog (one too few) while the back cover presents a picture of a three-legged mandolinist (one too many). The album's liner notes feature images of ghastly, contorted fairies with no flesh on their arms, sinister, personified bottles swimming through black oceans, cartoons of mutant animals standing on trial, synthetic limbs and more. They are images of turmoil, disease and discomfort, and it's difficult to look at them."[50]

While in the studio, a rough mix of the song "Grind" was leaked to radio and received major airplay.[1] On October 6, 1995, the band released the completed studio version of the song to radio via satellite uplink to combat the bootlegged version of the song.[1] Alice in Chains included two further singles: "Heaven Beside You" and "Again". All the singles had accompanying music videos. "Grind" and "Again" were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1996 and 1997, respectively.[51][52] The music video for "Again" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Video at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.[53]

Track listing

[edit]

All lyrics are written by Layne Staley, except "Grind", "Heaven Beside You" and "Over Now" by Jerry Cantrell.

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Grind"Cantrell4:44
2."Brush Away"Cantrell, Mike Inez, Sean Kinney3:22
3."Sludge Factory"Cantrell, Kinney7:12
4."Heaven Beside You"Cantrell, Inez5:27
5."Head Creeps"Staley6:28
6."Again"Cantrell4:05
7."Shame in You"Cantrell, Inez, Kinney5:35
8."God Am"Cantrell, Inez, Kinney4:08
9."So Close"Cantrell, Kinney2:45
10."Nothin' Song"Cantrell, Kinney5:40
11."Frogs"Cantrell, Inez, Kinney8:18
12."Over Now"Cantrell, Kinney7:03
Total length:64:47

Notes

  • "Over Now" contains an excerpt of "Good Night" by Ted Lewis.
  • The Japanese edition of the album features two remixes of "Again" (the "Tattoo of Pain Mix" and the "Jungle Mix", also known as the "Club Mix") as bonus tracks.

Personnel

[edit]

Alice in Chains

  • Layne Staley – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar on "Head Creeps", guitar parts on "Brush Away"
  • Jerry Cantrell – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Grind", "Heaven Beside You" and "Over Now"
  • Mike Inez – bass
  • Sean Kinney – drums

Production

  • Produced by Toby Wright and Alice in Chains
  • Recorded by Toby Wright and Tom Nellen, assisted by Sam Hofstedt
  • Mixed by Toby Wright, assisted by John Seymour
  • Mastered by Stephen Marcussen
  • Studio coordinator – Kevan Wilkins
  • Audio technicians – Darrell Peters, Walter Gemienhardt
  • Artwork guide – Sean Kinney
  • Art direction – Mary Maurer
  • Design – Doug Erb
  • Photography – Rocky Schenck, Rob Bloch
  • Management – Susan Silver

Charts

[edit]

Album

[edit]
Charts (1995-1996) Peak
Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[54] 5
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[55] 5
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[56] 75
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[57] 13
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[58] 93
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[59] 28
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[60] 11
Scottish Albums (OCC)[61] 37
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[62] 11
UK Albums (OCC)[63] 37
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[64] 4
US Billboard 200[65] 1

Singles

[edit]
Year Single Peak
position
US
Air
[66] 		US Main
[67] 		US Mod
[67] 		CAN
[68] 		CAN
Alt
[69] 		UK
[70]
1995 "Grind" — 7 18 53 3 23
1996 "Heaven Beside You" 52 3 6 — 7 35
"Again" — 8 36 — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[71] Gold 35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[72] Platinum 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[73] Silver 60,000‡
United States (RIAA)[46] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Alice In Chains Timeline". Sony Music Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 7, 1999. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  2. ^ Verna, Paul (November 18, 1995). "Reviews & Previews: Albums. Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains". Billboard. 46 (107): 99. ISSN 0006-2510.
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Sources

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Further reading

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